February 09, 2005
Bush: We're Stealing The Money You Lent Us
So, it started today. Josh has the commentary. Here's what Bush said:
Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust.
If you have a shred of honesty, then one of the two following statements must be true:
- A trust fund exists, to protect the viability of Social Security, up through a date that is currently projected into the 2050s
- What happened in 1983 - raising the payroll tax to increase the trust fund - was a big con, and we are instead defending a huge raised tax on the poorest portion of the country, to help pay for normal government spending.
I'd like to see what the our actual tax rates have ended up being if we regard the extra surplus as purely being a subsidization of our normal progressive tax income.
80% of America pays more in payroll taxes than they do in federal tax.
Remember: just because it is the government is borrowing from itself does not mean it cancels out, because it is two different revenue streams. The one being stolen from is the one that comes the poor part of the nation.
Update: Last I heard, the trust fund was at about $1.6 trillion. Since 1983, that's over $75 billion per year, coming from a regressive tax. That's over $7500 per worker that we've prepaid against our social security benefits. Bush: "Golly, I don't know what to tell you! That money's been spent!" Bush says he doesn't have to pay it back: he's stealing it.*
*Assuming 1983 was a zero year. Assuming 200 million workers on payroll. Those are lazy numbers because I haven't verified either. Really, I just doubled the number of people who tend to vote. Consider this an invitation to fill in that thought process with more accurate numbers.
How much does the government owe to social security.
Regards
John
My question: if all the money that has been paid into social security by workers were still there in a simple savings account (no interest investments counted) minus that which has been paid out in social security benefits til now (Dec 31, 2004), how much money would there be to be used for future benefits? (That means none has been spent by the government on other expenses.) I've been wondering and can't find the data. Thank you.
Posted by: Leah at February 25, 2005 05:02 PM1.6 trillion after 2004.